TheCable

Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir, press officer on local matters to Bukola Saraki, former senate president, says the law on pensions and entitlements of ex-governors in Kwara state was revoked in 2018.

He spoke in reaction to an earlier statement by Adulrahman Abdulrasaq, governor of Kwara, who said his administration will send a bill to the house of assembly to abolish pension for former governors and deputy governors of the state.

Abdulrasaq spoke a few days after Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, announced plans to repeal the law on entitlements of ex-governors and deputies in the state.

But Saraki’s aide said the administration of Abdulfatah Ahmed, Abdulrasaq’s predecessor, had already repealed the law and stopped all salaries and benefits to the former helmsmen in the state.

“It is worrisome how politics is clouding the judgement of the present administration under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and making it become desperate to score cheap political points, not minding the embarrassment it is causing the good people of the state,” Abdulqadir said.

“It would be recalled that in February 2018, the Kwara State House of Assembly revised the law and abolished payment of the pension, a move that was publicly hailed by then Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

“Since the review of the law in 2018, Saraki has stopped receiving any pension from the state government. These are verifiable facts that are in possession of the Kwara State Government. If there is any contrary information to this, we urge the incumbent governor to inform the public.

“It is now worrisome and an embarrassment to all Kwarans that a law that has since been repealed in the state is the same law Governor Abdulrahman is claiming that he intends to abolish. Must this administration copy everything from Lagos word for word?”

Saraki governed Kwara between 2003 and 2011.